Justice: Lay Magistrates

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord McNally on 11 December (WA 126), how many lay magistrates resigned in the last year; and what was the age and ethnic profile of those individuals.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: A more diverse judiciary is important in retaining the public’s confidence and trust in justice, and better reflecting the society it serves. This Government has made a number of changes through the Crime & Courts Act 2013 that we believe will promote judicial diversity. We have introduced part time working in the senior courts, including the Supreme Court, we have enabled the equal merit provision for judicial appointments to allow protected characteristics to be taken into account where two applicants are of equal merit, and a statutory duty for the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice to encourage judicial diversity.
	A total of 2,016 magistrates resigned in the last year. The ethnicity and age profiles of those magistrates is shown in the tables below:
	
		
			 Ethnicity  
			 White Mixed Asian Black Chinese Other 
			 1910 8 51 37 2 8 
			 (94%) (1%) (2%) (1%) (1%) (1%) 
		
	
	
		
			 Age 
			 Under 30 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 
			 3 23 118 223 1639 
			 (1%) (1%) (6%) (11%) (81%)

Justice: Lay Magistrates

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the age and ethnic profile of lay magistrates appointed in the last year.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: A more diverse judiciary is important in retaining the public’s confidence and trust in justice, and better reflecting the society it serves. This Government has made a number of changes through the Crime 84 Courts Act 2013 that we believe will promote judicial diversity. We have introduced part time working in the senior courts, including the Supreme Court, we have enabled the equal merit provision for judicial appointments to allow protected characteristics to be taken into account where two applicants are of equal merit, and a statutory duty for the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice to encourage judicial diversity.
	A total of 354 magistrates were appointed between 16 December 2012 and 17 December 2013, The age and ethnicity profile of those magistrates is shown below:
	
		
			 Age
			 Under 40 40-49 50-59 60-69 
			 68 88 114 84 
			 (19%) (25%) (32%) (24%) 
		
	
	
		
			 Ethnicity  
			 White Mixed Asian Black Chinese Other 
			 306 10 13 18 1 6 
			 (86%) (3%) (4%) (5%) (>1%) (1%)